GAMA and NBAA Join Jet Biofuel Initiative

GAMA and NBAA joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Transportation and coalition sponsors of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) in signing a joint resolution on Tuesday launching “Farm to Fly 2.0,” an initiative to encourage the development of jet biofuel in the U.S.

This initiative furthers the global business aviation manufacturing and operating community’s commitment to mitigate its greenhouse gas emissions to meet aspirational goals by 2020 and 2050. Specifically, these goals include carbon-neutral growth from 2020; average fuel-efficiency improvements of 2 percent per year from now until 2020; and a reduction in total net carbon emissions of 50 percent relative to 2005 by 2050.

According to GAMA, reductions in aviation greenhouse gas emissions depend on four pillars: technology, infrastructure and operational improvements, alternative fuels and market-based measures. “Of the four pillars, alternative fuels hold the greatest promise for significant and immediate emissions reductions,” it said.

The Farm to Fly initiative highlights that sustainable biofuels for aviation can be developed from a variety of feedstocks without disrupting the food supply or otherwise distorting markets. “Two drop-in jet biofuel production pathways exist today, and several more are in the process of being approved,” said GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce. “What we need is development of an abundant and effective supply chain that can enable the successful commercialization of such biofuels.”